


You're a Canary, I'm a Coal Mine

by EnterintotheBandom



Series: Immortals [3]
Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: 1920s, 1920s slang, Affairs, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Different Names, F/M, Flash Forward, Hospitals, Immortality, Immortals, Joe is a Bookworm, Mentions of the Great Depression, Minor Character Death, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Racism, Temporary Character Death, Time Skips, Wakes & Funerals, back story, jazz band, mentions of World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-06 17:47:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14062131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnterintotheBandom/pseuds/EnterintotheBandom
Summary: It was not the summer of 2001 when Joe met Patrick. Sure they met up at a bookstore in 2001, but that wasn’t when they met. It was the Spring of 1924 when Mark met Martin...





	1. It Was The Spring of 1924

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two men meet in a park in 1924, which leads them becoming good friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the backstory of the immortal FoB Boys from We Could Be Immortals
> 
> Patrick: Martin Stumph  
> Pete: Lewis Kingston  
> Joe: Mark Joseph  
> Andy: John Vaughn

It was the spring of 1924. Mark met Martin.

Well, Mark had been sitting in the park, the very park that would change his life two years later. Mark had been reading one of his books, something about martians by a British author. Mark would someday have to read more by this author. He liked the theme.

Mark looked up from his book and noticed a man walking down the little path which lead up to Mark’s park bench. He was a shorter man in stature, but he wasn’t much shorter than the normal height of men in the 20s. Hell Mark was about 3 inches over the normal height. Mark closed his book, tucked it into his jacket, and stood up to greet the man. He seemed like a new comer, a young man who likely came from a small town. Maybe somewhere south of Chicago. 

“Now what’s a new comer like you doing in the park this early in the morning?” Mark asked, causing the man to jump. 

“Oh, I was, walking, I like walking around to think…” The man said awkwardly. Mark noticed he wore glasses, as he had them poorly tucked into a shirt pocket. Mark didn’t understand why he wasn’t wearing them, but maybe it was because they were just reading glasses.

“What’s going on in the mind of..” Mark said, hoping that would lead to a name. And like magic, it did, a first and last, with a spelling.

“Martin, Martin Stumph. H at the end of Stumph.” Martin said with a smile.

“And what’s going on in the mind of Martin Stumph with an h at the end of Stumph?” Mark asked once again with a smile.

“Oh, I’m, writing..” Martin said. Oh he was embarrassed. Why would he be embarrassed?

“You write books.” Mark said.

“Not really, I write songs, music..”

“You play anything or you sing?” 

“I play drums, and piano. You know, jazz scene and stuff.” 

“I play bass, it’s a fun instrument, but it’s very heavy.” Joe says. “I play with a few random jazzists down at the Jaded Lily, my parents are friends with the owner, George Flowers, great man.” 

“That’s nice…” Martin said, looking forward.

“You know, two piece jazz bands are something people see a lot, we can just get some of the guys at the Lily to play with us and we could play some of your music, if that wouldn’t be a strange offer.” 

 

“Strange?” Martin laughed. “We just met and I don’t even know your name curly.”

“I’m Mark Joseph, son of Henry and Martha Joseph.” 

“Mark. Now that I know your name and the name of your parents, I will consider.” Martin chuckled again. Mark liked this guy. 

“Well, come on over to my place if you decide on it. There’s a piano and some drums at the Jaded Lily and I know Flowers will let us use them before the place opens. Four’s when business starts, and midnight’s when it ends.” Mark said, pulling a paper out of his pocket and writing the building and room number for his apartment. He then handed it to Martin.

“Also, if you don’t want people thinking you wear glasses, don’t clip them on the outside of your shirt, just tuck them all the way into your pocket.” Mark said, he then winked, and left Martin where he had been standing on the path.

 

 

 

Martin took him up on that offer, showing up at the younger man’s house that saturday. Mark had been home when Martin showed up, and let him in. 

“Greetings Martin.” Mark said in a sarcastic rich voice. Martin laughed at that.

“So, what did you bring.” Mark asked, poking at the papers Martin was holding under his arm.

“Just my writing.. I got piano and drum sheet music and lyrics, can you sing?” Martin asks.

“Me? Sing? Last time I sang, the windows cracked and my grandmother went deaf.” Mark said laughing. “You have got the wrong man. Maybe we can get some doll to be our singer, unless you’re holding out on me.” 

“Let’s just get to the point.” Martin said as he put some of the music out. Mark looked through it. One piece caught his eye and he picked it up, reading it, before reading some of the lyrics out.

“Hell or Glory, I don't want anything in between, Then came a baby boy with long eyelashes, Daddy said, "you gotta show the world the thunder.” Mark said. Martin’s face turned red and he took the papers

“I-I’m not sure about that one, work in progress you know..” Martin said.

“No no, I think it’s great. Who’s this lady you had a good run with?” Mark said, raising an eyebrow.

“No one really, I just came up with it..” Martin says.

“Well, you could have fooled me. I like this, like it a lot.” Mark said. “Just gotta write like a bass and trumpet part for it, every good jazz band has trumpets. I know a guy, Jillian. He can kill at the trumpet. Works at the Lily. Could play with us for a while.” Mark said.

And the day went like that. They made their music, messed around, and Mark even got Martin to sing a bit, and damn was Martin holding out on Mark, because he sang beautifully, but it took him a while to get Martin to admit he was a good singer.

“And that means you’re on piano. You can’t have a singer playing drums. You belong with the microphone.” 

“No one would look at me right?” Martin asks.

“It’s a bar, everyone’s doing some kind of dancing or drinking. You’ll only be looked at by people who actually are interested in the musicians.” Mark says. “Trust me on this. We go tomorrow, play a few songs, you can improvise no one will care, and if you don’t like it, you can go back to whatever you are doing currently.”

“Being unemployed in my brother’s apartment…” Martin said. “I’ll try out singing.”

 

 

 

And the next day they were both at the Jaded Lily practicing with a few other jazzists. Mark convinced their main singers to let Martin sing that night. That was the rules, but they had never had another willing singer.

And that night, everyone loved Martin, and by loved him, Mark would mean didn’t boo him off the stage. The people seemed to enjoy themselves, which meant they had a good band playing. Martin had been surprised by this somehow. He was great, of course he wouldn’t have gotten booed off the stage. Even the regular singer was impressed.

Martin agreed to do more shows with Mark and everyone else, and slowly, he just was expected. He was apart of the group now. The idea of splitting into their own group had not crossed their mind, but people sort of saw them that way, Mark and Martin, as they were the two who did solo pieces together. As 1924 went on, Mark and Martin had the time of their lives, even if playing jazz at a bar wasn’t much. 

Martin ended up living with Mark for some time after the summer of ‘24, as he was kicked out of his brother’s apartment after his brother married and decided to take all their money to buy a house. Thankfully Mark let him move in to his place. And in the late spring of the next year was when they met their trumpet player.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And everything will go from here. Pete, Andy, Elisa and Meagan will appear in future chapters, although Elisa is mentioned until later chapters


	2. Jet Pack Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark brings something special back to the apartment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> George will have dialogue later in this chapter, so he isn't going to just be a mentioned name.
> 
> Also this is when there will begin to be slight racism, just a second warning about that.

What Martin didn’t expect for Mark to bring home on that rainy evening in late April was a man who had been beaten in the alley next to their apartment. The man was about Martin’s height, but he was a bit darker in hair color, having brown eyes and black hair contrasting to the blue eyes and brown hair both Mark and Martin had. He was out cold, and had blood on his lips and chin, and had obviously been beaten. The only thing he had had on him was held in Mark’s hand, a trumpet case. Probably was looking for work when he got jumped.

Martin was surprised by Martin and the man, but quickly helped move him to the couch. 

“He’s probably gotten a good blow to the head, but I might have ice for him..” Mark said and disappeared into the kitchen. Martin grabbed his handkerchief off of the table it had been left on and wiped the blood off the man’s face. Mark came back with some ice wrapped in a hand towel, which he put to the man’s head.

The man was out for about an hour before he woke up. He was confused about where he was, and since Martin and Mark had both left the room for different reasons, Mark to use the toilet and Martin to start making dinner for them, neither of them noticed. The man started panicking when he realized he wasn’t half dead in an alley and rather not as dead in a house.

“Di Mi!!” Martin had heard from the living room. He quickly rushed out to find the man trying to get up, but staying seated likely as the whole room spun around him.

“Woah woah woah, you’re okay, stay laying down.” Martin said as he went over to the man.

“Where am I..?” The man asked. 

“You’re in our apartment, my roommate is out currently, but he’ll be back soon. Listen, what’s your name?” 

“Lewis Peter Kingston III…” The man said, starting to run his hand through his hair. “Who are you..?”

“I’m Martin Stumph, my roommate is Mark. He found you and brought you in. What happened?” 

“I was jumped by some guys.. Calling me a negro and trying to take my trumpet from me.. I don’t understand why people do this…” Lewis said before wincing in pain after touching his head. Martin knew he was mixed, as the town he came from had a few mixed families, but being a small town in the north no one really gave a shit about the mixed families. Lewis looked like one of the boys he knew back there, kid was named Travis, although he was darker than Lewis. Hell Lewis could pass for being white if his hair was gelled down.

“I was making dinner and need to return to that, you’ll be okay on your own right?” Martin asked.

“Yeah, yeah…” Lewis said, laying back down fully. 

“Good.” Martin got up and went to the kitchen. Mark returned a few minutes later and when Martin came out with dinner, Mark had gotten Lewis over to the dining table.

“So, you from around here?” Mark asked as they ate.

“Yeah, I lived over in Wilmette, I moved recently to an apartment nearby.. I heard that one of the local bars needed a trumpet playing for one of their shows, but of course I was jumped…” 

“Oh, we work over in the Jaded Lily, we actually had our normal trumpet player quit last week, maybe you can take his place.” Martin says.

“You sure? No one really likes, you know..” Lewis pointed his finger at his face and did a circle motion. Probably because both Mark and Martin were white.

“We have a black saxist and a black bartender, you’ll be fine.” Mark says. “May get a few dirty looks from the patrons but you’ll be perfect, if you can play that is.” 

“Of course I can play, I’ve been playing since I was ten.” Lewis said laughing.

“Good.” Mark said.

 

 

And Lewis could play. George loved him, and let him play in place of Jillian. Slowly, the three began doing solo things on the bigger nights, and it was a night in May that Martin introduced the trio as the Rich Bunch after Mark suggested the name.

One thing Mark and Martin noticed was the way Lewis looked at George’s wife’s cousin. Meagan. Meagan often came to the Jaded Lily to talk with George and his wife, Isabella. Mark and Martin started teasing him about having a crush on her.

“Guys, it’s not like I have a chance…” Lewis said as they all sat on the stage practicing Martin’s newest song, Canary. 

“I’ve known Meagan for years, she’d love you. You’re everything she’d look for in a guy.” Mark said. Lewis however, was eager to change the subject.

“Hey, you know what we need, a drummer. I know a guy, he’s cool, John. He’s got his own drum sticks so we won’t have to worry about that, he could do the drums instead of Martin switching between drums and piano depending on the song.” Lewis said, obviously trying to throw the Meagan subject away.

“Guess we’ll check him out, bring him to a practice.” Martin says.

Before they could continue, George Flowers walked in. It was two, which meant that he was coming in to start work.

“Hey George!” All three said as he went over to the bar stools.

“Hello.” George said. “How’s the song going?”

“We’ve got everything down, we’ll be able to start playing it tonight.” Martin said smiling. 

“Good, I like it better than that White Collars song you guys have been doing, and that one’s a crowd pleaser.” George said smirking. “Maybe you guys should take those dolls up on their offers.”

“Not my way, I’d rather meet the right person rather than go off with some stranger. Martin’s the same way. Lewis on the other hand already has his eyes on someone…” Mark said, which lead to him getting elbowed in the gut. George just chuckled. Mark however stopped smiling when he heard Martin mumble ‘I’m a Airedale anyway…’ Mark tugged on his arm and mumbled to him that that wasn’t true. Lewis and George didn’t seem to notice this.

“Good luck with that.” George said. “Get ready for tonight, we’re having some good people coming, I need to talk with one, and everything has to go well, you all have to leave by eleven, got it?”

The three nodded, all confused, but this was normal. George always had weird demands on Fridays…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lewis has joined your party.


	3. I Don't Want Anything in Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John joins the band!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally! Andy joins the story. Meagan does as well, but she comes in a little later

John came into the group a week later, around the time Lewis and Martin got apartments in the same building as Mark. Lewis finally managed to get the group to meet up. John was quiet, but he sure knew how to play drums, if the record Lewis showed them was to be believed. Lewis and John had obviously been friends for a while, but Mark and Martin would never know how long.

“How long have you played drums?” Martin asked as the group sat at a table in the park, same one he met Mark in.

“About four, five years.” John said.

“He’s really good, he worked with a band, but they broke up recently.” Lewis said.

“So your in need of a job. I’m sure George would be willing to pay for another drummer. The other guys are their own band now.” Mark said.

John nodded to this before scratching at his beard.

“So, I’m guessing we all agree, welcome to the Rich Bunch.” Lewis said. John seemed to laugh at this.

“Glad to be here.” John said and suck Lewis’s hand.

“Practice is every weekday starting at ten, George will let us know if there are weekend days we need to work as something special happens.” Mark said. “You know where the Jaded Lily is right?”

 

“Yeah, been there once or twice.” 

“Good, we meet there tomorrow, I’ve got some of the sheet music for the drums on some of our songs, you practice them and when you got them, we can start playing with you.” Martin said, pulling the sheet music out of his coat, which seemed to confuse Lewis on how he managed to put them in there without folding them. John takes the papers and looks through them. He nods before folding them and putting them in his pocket.

“Now that that’s out of the way, we should start talking about your cheaters.” Lewis says, gesturing to John’s glasses. This obviously upset Martin, as he had also been wearing his glasses.

“You son of a-” Martin started before being cut off

“Don’t get in a lather Stumph.” Lewis said laughing.

“Oh for crying out loud, leave them alone Lew.” Mark said, hitting him on the back of the head which just made Lewis laugh more. Martin rolled his eyes and John started chuckling quietly.

“I see this will be fun.” John said, still chuckling.

John turned out to be great in Martin’s book. He played well, he perfectly complimented the rest in their music, and George liked him. He did however ask a lot of questions about George’s weird demands. They had to tell him that he should never ask George about why he did that, as there was definitely something going on that was none of their business. John saw this as reasonable.

 

 

 

 

 

But nothing too important happened until May 24th 1926, when Lewis kissed Meagan.

Martin and Mark had no idea when they started seeing each other, but they found out they were when they walked into the backstage area to find them kissing.

The thing that made it strange was the fact they had just finished talking with Isabella about Meagan. She said Meagan was engaged to a man named Thomas Jackson, as her parents had been pressuring her to marry rich and Thomas seemed like a good choice for her. So Lewis was kissing an engaged woman.

The couple where startled when Martin cleared his throat, as they got off of each other’s faces and looked in shock at Mark and Martin. Lewis let go of Meagan and she stepped back.

“I can explain..” Lewis said, as if Mark and Martin were going to tell Isabella and George, or worse, Thomas.

“Woah woah, we’re not going to tell anybody.” Mark said, which seemed to lessen the tension in the room. “Besides, now I get to say I told you she’d like you.”

Meagan laughed at this, which in turn caused Lewis and Martin to chuckle a little as well.

“Well it was a good thing someone was right.” Meagan said.

“I just have to ask, what about your fiance?” Martin asked, as he didn’t understand her reason to have an affair.

“That old bloke? I hate him. But my parents keep telling me that I must marry him as he’s a rich and great man and could support me. I’d like to have a fling with someone I’d like, who is my own age.” Meagan said laughing a bit.

“This is like a Chicago Great Gatsby.” Mark said laughing, but no one else did.

“Great Gatsby?” Lewis asked.

“The Great Gatsby. It’s the new F. Scott Fitzgerald book, really good, bet it’ll be a classic some day.” 

“I read that, I hated it. The ending was terrible, only likable characters were Gatsby and whatever the narrator was named. It’ll stop printing in about twenty years.” Martin said, rolling his eyes and catching a chuckle from Meagan. Of course any modern reader would know this was not the case, and that was something Mark would hold over Martin’s head for the rest of their days.

“Past that, if you two want to be discreet you should do it in the closet we keep the bass in.” Mark said, pointing at it. 

“Alright alright.” Lewis said, rolling his eyes. Meagan had come back over to him.

“You two get back to whatever you were doing. We’ll be heading home.” Martin said. Meagan and Lewis nodded and waited for them to leave before likely going back to kissing.

 

 

“I was lying.” Martin randomly said on their walk home.

“What do you mean?” Mark asked.

“When I said that part of Thunder wasn’t about anyone.” Martin said. “It was about a friend I had back in Glenview, Elisa.” 

“Did anything happen between you two or…”

“No, Elisa and I had been friends since we were teenagers. My parents always said she and I should get married and run away to Chicago. Then came Jimmy Levy with his stupid Ford and dumb haircut. I could tell she was in love with him, and they got married the day before I came here. Haven’t seen her since, obviously.” 

“I’m guessing Lewis and Meagan reminded you of that.”

“Yeah…” 

“Hey, there’s always someone else out there for you.” Mark said, patting his back.

“I guess you’re right.” Martin said. He looked at Mark and smiled at him.

“Alright, John said that tomorrow after lunch he’s taking us to one of the theatres for a show. How’s that sound?” 

“That sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Then after that we got tomorrow night’s show, and I’m sure that will be a blast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will begin after the events of the first part of Chapter 1 of We Could Be Immortals, so if you're reading this without reading We Could Be Immortals, you need to read at least the first part of chapter 1


	4. Pull the Blackout Curtains Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dead. They're dead. Shot in the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place right after the first half of We could Be Immortals Chapter 1

“You’re a canary, I’m a coal mine! ‘Cause the sorrow is just all the rage!”

… They say we are what we are...

“You sure are a wurp Martin.”

… But we don’t have to be...

“Where is George, I didn’t see him at the bar.”

… I’m bad behavior but I do it in the best way...

“Maybe after we kill your little band you’ll understand we’re not letting your little wife get off so easy from your mistakes.”

… I’ll be the watcher… of the eternal flame...

“Have fun in hell you kike.”

… I’ll be the guard dog… of all your fever dreams...

“I think he’s coming back..”

Mark woke up laying on cold, wet concrete, with someone propping him up. Whatever he had been hearing before slowly fading as he opened his eyes. Lewis was pacing and John was looking down at him with concern, while Martin had been propping him up, showing John’s same concern. Mark took a breath which burned his lungs, and his confusion turned to terror as he realized. Martin was supposed to be dead. John was supposed to be dead. Lewis was supposed to be dead. Mark was supposed to be dead.

“What the hell?!?” Mark said, trying to get away from Martin in his panic.

“Mark, Mark, calm down!” Martin said, before trying to avoid the confused swipe Mark took at him.

“I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead!!!” Mark says. “We’re all dead and hell looks like a cold parking lot at midnight!!”

“Mark we’re not dead!!” Lewis says, having stopped pacing.

“He’s in a panic, let him ride it out.” John says. “He saw worse than we did.”

John said that about the fact Mark saw all three of them be executed, rather than having at least one other person alive when he died like the rest of them did.

“Guys, we need to get out of here, before they get up again.” Martin said while trying to calm Mark down as he rambled intensely.

“And what about George?” John asked.

“He’s most likely dead…” Lewis said, looking out at the water of Lake Michigan. “In the lake.”

“Let’s just get going..” Martin said, forcing Mark to stand up with him. John stood up as well.

“Where do we go, home?” John asked.

“It would be better to get to the police station.” Lewis says.

“What about Mark?” Martin said.

“You take him home, calm him down, we’ll deal with everything regarding the police.” Lewis said.

Martin nodded to that and they all made a run for it, even though Mark took some coaxing. 

 

 

They never truly had the time to figure out what happened to them until a week after the occurrence, with the police questioning and dealing with both Meagan and Isabella. They all went to Martin’s apartment after the show they played for the reopening of the Jaded Lily, as it had to be closed after what happened for that week. 

They were all sitting in Martin’s livingroom, Mark and Martin on the couch, John on the armchair while Lewis was sitting on the floor (which he had no complaints about).

“Something happened to us.. And for whatever reason, that made it so we came back to life when they shot us in the head.” John said.

“It had to have been that rock, the one from the park when we ran into it after seeing it fall.. Whatever that light was must have been it.” Lewis said from the floor.

“There’s no way a rock did this to us.” Martin said, crossing his arms.

“What other explanation is there? My family sure as hell didn’t have a line of people who can survive being killed!!” Lewis said.

“There’s really no other explanation, unless we want to go into religious reasons.” John said, before adding on, “Let’s not go into religious reasons.”

“So some rock from the sky give us the ability to not die by bullet. I’m not willing to find out what else can’t kill us now.” Martin says, and by the looks of the others, no one else was willing to try either.

“Maybe this is just dying in any other way than age, like, we’ll still grow old and die, or maybe it’s a one time thing, and if we were to ‘die’ again, we’d be dead.” John says. “Maybe, in some insane, convoluted way, we got very very lucky.”

“No way we got lucky, we’re all missing the hair to prove it.” Lewis said. All of them were missing the chunk of hair from the bullet hole, which each had easily covered by gelling the rest of their hair over the hole.

“That’s true…” 

“So, what, we’re possibly immortal?” Mark asked as Lewis gets up to do something, leaving the room. None of them questioned it.

“Seems that way.. Unless it’s like John said.” Martin replied. Lewis returned to the room with Martin’s camera, which he had received from his mother a year prior. He then took a picture of Martin and Mark as they looked to see what he was doing. 

“Lewis what are you doing?” Martin asked as Lewis walked over to John.

“Pictures, we check them in like 15 years or so, and they’ll tell us.” Lewis says as he takes a picture of John, one that would be among many skimmed by a curious young man trying to prove something one day. 

“Tell us what?” John asked.

“If we’ve aged. In most legends I’ve heard, immortal people, gods and demigods and such do not age. At 30 or 40 or so, you start looking older, greying hair, wrinkles, you know, that sort of thing, so, if we all still look like these pictures by then, there’s a chance, we hit 50 or so without aging, I’d say we are immortal.” Lewis said before holding the camera at arm's length to get a picture of himself. A stupid name would eventually come from the action a long time in the future after cameras got smaller and more advanced, but for now it was just a picture.

“That seems like a good plan.” John said after thinking about it.

“But what if other people notice? What then? I don’t think a bunch of 70 year olds looking like they’re all 20 will fly.” Mark says.

“We move. We get the money and move somewhere else, stay there for such and such years, then maybe move again, change our names too. Choose something like James or Andy or something.” Lewis said, setting the camera down.

“So we just keep doing that for the rest of eternity, sounds great.” Martin said in a sarcastic tone.

“You have any better ideas?” Lewis asked. Martin opened his mouth to reply, but closed it in defeat.

“So, we all are kinda stuck in this together, that’s sorta a good thing.” Mark said.

“Yeah, at least we don’t hate each other.” John said.

“I find that debatable with Lewis.” Martin muttered, making Mark laugh a little.

“Alright, now that all that’s out of the way, let’s get to work on that song Martin’s been losing his mind over.” Lewis said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was shorter, the next chapter will be longer!


	5. I Found the Cure to Growing Older

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rich Bunch go on tour for the first time after they make their first record!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this chapter and the next one today! Please let me know if you notice any errors.

It had been two years since the strange events that night, Meagan and Lewis were still going, although Meagan was now married and was likely going to move to Los Angeles because of her husband. The Rich Bunch had become more popular in that time, and the day the letter arrived in the mail from Samuel Parker, a record recorder who lived in the northern part of Chicago asking the band to come to his studio to record, was a day Martin didn’t think would actually come. 

It was almost a party the night it happened. Lewis brought a drink that they had all long since forgotten the name of and they ate and drank that night, even though Lewis basically drank most of the bottle while Mark and Martin drank only one or two glasses and John refused to touch any of it. They got lucky Lewis had sobered up by the time they actually went down there to record.

They recorded their 14 songs, including Canary, and made their first record, the one that stayed packed away safely in a box with copies of the other 5 they made through their career in a box that the band kept with them no matter where they moved. The record was named Thanks for the Memories, after a part in the song they called ‘Last Call.’ 

This eventually lead to them going to a few other cities to play at bars and parties. The most significant one the band played at had to be the one they played at on April 12th or April 19th, as Mark and Martin both argue about which day it had been, while Lewis and John had forgotten all together.

It was a party at a mansion somewhere in Philadelphia, it was a party for some reason, possibly a birthday. The band played on the porch to the party on the lawn, in the house, just wherever they happened to be. They played for a long time.

They finished their final song and left the porch to make room for another band. Mark and Martin had begun a chat with a few women when Martin was tapped on the shoulder, he turned and didn’t see anyone that would have tapped him, only for the fedora he had been wearing to be grabbed off his head. When he turned again, there was the culpuate, wearing the fedora.

“Hello Martin.” She said with a smile. Martin smiled as well.

“Well, long time no see Elisa.” Martin said and the two hugged. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been wonderful, I see you actually went through with music, thought you said you weren’t a singer, boy did you lie to me.” Elisa said when they let go of each other.

“I talked him into that.” Mark said, putting his hand out. “Mark Joseph.” 

Elisa giggled and shuck his hand. “Elisa Levy.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you, and your, husband.” Mark said, tipping his fedora with a smile, which made Elisa giggle. Martin coughed to tell him to stop talking about her husband, and Mark took the hint. 

“Well seeing as you two aren’t working, why don’t you join me and my friends for drinks and food? We have the best cakes around you know.” Elisa said.

“That sounds wonderful!” Martin said and Mark nodded. Elisa took Martin by the hand and dragged him over to a table with a few men and women. Mark had followed them and the three joined the group. A butler brought drinks and food over to them.

It hadn’t been too long before Mark pointed out to Martin that Lewis, probably drunk off his ass, was standing on a table playing his trumpet and dancing like an idiot while a bunch of people cheered him on. John was nowhere in sight. Both Mark and Martin had had a few drinks as well and found it hilarious, much like everyone else. 

Martin looked over at Mark to say something, but got caught up by something behind him. Mark looked behind him to see Elisa with her husband, Jimmy. Jimmy was saying something before leaning in to kiss her quickly. When Mark looked back for Martin, he saw he had gotten up and left the table. Mark decided to go after him, taking his plate of cake with him. It was a few minutes after that when John came over to the table.

“Hey have any of you seen my bandmates, guy about my height, light brown hair, blue eyes and a taller guy with curly hair? We need to get going.” John asked one of the people.

“Martin and Mark? Yes, they both headed inside, likely for the bathrooms.” Elisa said, pointing towards the door. “Although you probably should control your trumpet player, before he breaks something.”

John looked over at where Lewis was, rolled his eyes, and went to take care of him. In the end John had to drag Lewis to the truck by his shirt collar while holding his trumpet while Lewis tried to fight him. He locked Lewis in the back seat so he wouldn’t try to go back to the party.

John found Mark and Martin coming out of the house when he went back for them. Both had cake frosting on their faces and Martin had looked like he recently stopped crying. The only thing John got out of either of them was a “He was jealous of Jimmy” from Mark a few days after the fact.

When they drove off, Martin just stared out at the house through the back window, and he kept staring out it until he passed out. Lewis had passed out while John was gone. John and Mark ended up talking for a while before stopping at a place to spend the night.

The next morning they were back on the road, heading to the next place. They spent the rest of the summer and most of the fall bouncing around from place to place playing shows for money. By the time they returned to Chicago they had accumulated quite the wealth, which Mark claimed “really made them the Rich Bunch.”

The day they came back, Lewis found a letter in his mailbox from Meagan, saying she had left while they were gone, but had the address if he were to want to write to her. Lewis disappeared into his apartment to write her back while John, Mark and Martin went into John’s apartment to celebrate their success.

That’s how most of their touring went, although things were harder in the thirties, and they played mostly funerals or weddings, small things. Parties became far and few between. Things got better, but that was only the dawning of World War II, a war that somehow, all members of the Rich Bunch managed to get out of.

But back to 1928, as the years to follow were very uneventful. Lewis came to Martin one night with a letter from Meagan, in reply to the one she sent. She was pregnant, and with what she assumed was Lewis’s child, saying that she hadn’t been touched by her husband in two months, but it seemed that he believed anyway that the child was his. Lewis was both happy and frightened by the news, as Meagan might be punished terribly if it did come out that the child wasn’t her husband’s, but Martin calmed him, saying there was no way they’d believe that the child was his, as most believed Meagan was too far above Lewis or affairs for her to do such a thing. And as far as Lewis knew, their child was believed to be her husband’s. Rumors from Isabella the following year of a healthy baby named Saint Jackson to Meagan’s name was happy news to Lewis, but Lewis only had one picture of his son sent to him from Meagan, one he carried with him for the rest of his days.

It was someday years later, in 1947, that the band met up in Lewis’s apartment. Lewis had called for them fearfully, as if he had discovered something.

“Why are we here Lewis? We have work in less than two hours, whatever it is you could have told us there.” John said as he walked in. “Andrew will be upset if we’re late again.”

“This is important, and something we need to keep between the four of us.” Lewis said, rushing over to his table where he picked up three pictures, giving one to John and another to Martin. Both realized these where the pictures Lewis had taken of them back in 1926.

“Why are you bringing these back?” Martin asked.

“Because we haven’t changed. Martin I am nearly fifty, no, I am fifty. Look at me, I haven’t changed.” Lewis held his picture up next to his face to prove it. His friends looked, and were taken aback. Other than his hair and beard being different, he looked exactly the same. No wrinkles, no grey hairs, he still looked twenty nine. A review of the other pictures proved to Mark, Martin and John that none of them had aged.

“What are we supposed to do?” Martin asked after a long five minutes of staring at his with Mark looking over his shoulder.

“What I said we needed to do. Move, leave. Go somewhere where no one will know us, somewhere like..” Lewis started before thinking.

“Kansas?” John suggests.

“Yes, Kansas. Kansas, Wichita. You know, where they were making all those planes.” Lewis says. “We could stay there for, I don’t know, forty, fifty years, move somewhere else.” 

“What about our families? I’m not sure my mother would like it if I were to move away and disappear.” Mark said, looking up from the picture.

“Would you rather she find out we’re immortal, and I don’t know what she’d do, but I know it wouldn’t be good for us, we can’t let anyone know the real reason we do this.” Lewis said. “Unless we want something terrible to happen to us.”

Everyone was silent, but eventually, the silence was broken with John saying “I agree.” 

Mark and Martin looked at each other, and both reluctantly agreed. If Martin had to be honest, the last time he got a letter from his family was his brother trying to mooch of the money he got from playing in the Rich Bunch.

“So we use the money from the band to buy some places in Wichita, and just live there under new names?” Martin asked.

“Yes, like I said when we talked about this. Something like James or Andy or something.” John says.

“We’ll have to tell Andrew we’re retiring…” Mark says.

“I’ll donate the instruments back to him, he could use them for something…” Lewis said.

As much as they didn’t want to, they told Andrew they were retiring, and he bought the story. Lewis went down to Wichita and bought the places, came back, and they all moved down there.

And the second they drove into Wichita, they were no longer Lewis Kingston, John Vaughn, Martin Stumph, and Mark Joseph. They were Kenneth Gregory, Henry Perkins, Frederick Baker, and Chris Wilson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will focus on Martin and Elisa, then Lewis and Meagan, just FYI.


	6. Heart or Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martin sees Elisa one last time while Lewis attends Meagan's funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's short but I felt this was a good way to end this

June 15th, 1977

He froze as he looked at Elisa. She was nearly seventy six now, and was in the hospital for some illness Martin didn’t exactly know of. Martin was still going by Frederick Baker, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She had gone blind according to her granddaughter, whom he talked to outside.

“Elisa..?” Martin said, which made her perk up. She recognized his voice.

“Martin!” She said, smiling.

It’s, been too long..” Martin said, sitting beside her.

“It has, seeing as I’ve gone blind, guess I won’t actually see you one more time.” She said, laughing before coughing a little. “So, did you settle down? Have kids? I heard you and your friends retired in the 40s, right?”

“I never met a lady to marry, so no kids. Lewis had a son though, although he never got to meet him.” Martin said.

“Oh, poor man… Is he dead?” Elisa asked, worry in her blind eyes.

Martin hesitated before saying no.

“Oh, well send him my regards.” Elisa said, she then looked down a little. “Want me to wait for you there? I mean on the other side. I’m guessing you have a few years left in you.”

“Elisa…” Martin hesitated again. She was his best friend. He couldn’t disappoint her like that. He was going to tell her. “I-I won’t be coming.”

“Oh don’t say that, if anyone’s going to heaven it would be you.”

“No, Elisa, I-I won’t be dying, something happened to me, back in ‘26, I died and I’ve been stuck.. I can’t leave..” Martin said. Elisa looked confused, as if he was kidding her, but Martin took her had and put it to his face. “If you could see me, you’d see I look exactly how I did the last time we saw each other.. I just can’t disappoint you like that. I won’t be coming..”

Elisa seemed surprised by his skin, as it was still smooth, no wrinkles. He was seventy five, and still looked twenty.

“Oh my god..” Elisa said. “I-I’m so sorry..”

“I’m not alone, remember Mark and John? They and Lewis are in the same boat.. I won’t be lonely.” Martin said. Elisa looked down a bit, then smiled at him.

“Promise me you’ll do music again. If you’re going to stick around people deserve to hear you sing. Will you sing for me? Anything really, do you like the Beatles? I love the Beatles, can you sing me something by them?” And he did. Martin sang her Twist and Shout, and she seemed to love it. Once the song was over, she closed her eyes.

“Thank you for coming.. This must be hard for you.. If anyone asks, I’ll say your name’s Patrick and you were your grandson.” Elisa said, squeezing his hand.

“Thank you.. I’ll miss you. Goodbye.” Martin said, before letting go of her hand and standing.

“Goodbye..” Elisa said. Martin left the hospital crying. Elisa died nearly two weeks later. Martin attended her funeral under the Patrick name. Patrick… He liked that.

September 14 1993

Lewis was surprised that Meagan’s funeral was taking place in Chicago when he heard it was happening. Most of her family lived in Nevada and California. Meagan lived there after her husband moved her away from Chicago.

Lewis was sitting at a bench away from the funeral, just watching. He wasn’t exactly invited to this. He saw her family, according to someone he talked too, she had three other children with Thomas. Lewis couldn’t tell which of the older adults was his Saint, but he guessed he’d never know. 

He was silently watching until he noticed a little boy, around five standing behind a tree trying to get his tie off, he was probably one of Meagan’s great grandchildren. Lewis chuckled and went over to the boy.

“Just what are you doing?” Lewis asked.

“Trying to get this dumb tie off!” The boy said. “It’s too tight!”

“I can loosen it.” Lewis said before loosening it for the boy.

“Thank you sir! Mama said I should call people I don’t know sir.”

“Well then sir, why don’t we get you back to your mama. Is she over there?” Lewis asked. The boy giggled when Lewis called him sir.

“Uh-huh! I don’t know what’s going on over there, it was boring and I didn’t like my tie. I snuck off when mama wasn’t looking.” 

“Come on, your mama’s probably worried. You shouldn’t walk off like that.” Lewis said, holding out his hand. The boy took it and they walked down to the funeral. Everyone seemed to be leaving or paying their respects. Lewis looked around for who may have been the child’s mother.

“Mama said this was a ser-i-mo-ny for my Great Granny, but I don’t know where she is. I think she was late. They got pictures of her though.” The boy said, pointing at one of the pictures of Meagan.

“Do you see your mama?” Lewis asked.

“There she is, with my brothers and sisters.” The boy said, pointing at the woman with four kids around her. She seemed to be looking for the boy. Lewis walked the boy over.

“Hey, is this kid yours?” Lewis asked her.

“Yes! Thank you sir.” The woman said. The boy let go of Lewis’s hand and went to his mama. “Brendon, what did I tell you about running off?!” 

“He’s lucky I found him.” Lewis said. “Kid ran off because of his tie.”

“I’m not surprised. Thank you Mr…” 

“Rudd, Michael Rudd.” That’s what he was currently going by.

“Mr Rudd. We have to get going, thank you again.” The woman said.

“Oh, before you go, do you know a Saint Jackson?” Lewis asked.

“Yes, he’s right over there.” The woman said, pointing at a man who was staring at the picture of Meagan, before taking her children away towards the parking lot. He heard one of the kids ask her “Did that man know grandpa?”

Lewis straightened the tie he had been wearing, then with some hesitation, went to meet his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, there are two possible ways I could continue this series, 
> 
> 1: A non canon ship fic as I realized I imply a ship a bit through this one  
> 2: One set in the 2010s again that dives a bit more into Brendon's dreams and/or Mark possibly hearing the future while coming back from the dead
> 
> But other than that thanks for reading this!


End file.
